


A Champion's Instinct

by Sanmer



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: F/M, First Kiss, Love Confessions, Punkbladeshipping - Freeform, bit of angst, just two kids who are scared of losing each other, rated T because Gloria
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-06
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-17 21:46:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29232498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sanmer/pseuds/Sanmer
Summary: Marnie and Victor talk about their feelings after a traumatic event.
Relationships: Mary | Marnie/Masaru | Victor
Comments: 4
Kudos: 19





	A Champion's Instinct

**Author's Note:**

> alternative title: the author wrote this because he was starved of punkbladeshipping content.

The recently-appointed gym leader Marnie was taking a small break: just a few moments ago, she had had an intense battle against a gym challenger, who almost defeated her with their Weezing. Fortunately, Marnie’s Morpeko could pull through the fight, and remained victorious in the end. After complementing the challenger and asking them if they could promote the Spikemuth gym, Marnie snuck out (after telling one of Team Yell’s grunts, of course) and decided to take a little stroll through the Wild Area.

During her walk, the girl began thinking about some of the recent events: how her brother helped the soon-to-be-champion and his friend against Chairman Rose and the legendary pokémon Eternatus, about the Champion’s Cup and how Victor defeated her after a close battle, and about watching the boy’s battle against Leon, and being crowned as the new Galar Champion.

While she was happy for her friend, and couldn’t complain about her new life as her hometown’s gym leader, she couldn’t help but feel slightly disappointed, for a number of reasons: not only because her dream of becoming the Champion was gone, but also because, due to his new responsibilities as the region’s champion, her meetings with Victor had now become more and more scarce.

Although she wouldn’t dare say it out loud, it was true that she had a bit of a crush on the boy: ever since they first met at the Budew Drop Inn, he had treated her not as a menace or a villain, as many had before due to her origins in Spikemuth, but as a friend.

To say that she appreciated that would be an understatement.

Whatsmore, now as champion, Victor did everything in his power to bring back Spikemuth to its former glory, from restoring and further promoting the gym, to finding ways to bring the power back to the decaying town. His kindness really didn’t seem to have limits, and Marnie was eternally grateful, even if she wasn’t the best at expressing it.

Not to mention, she couldn’t deny that she found the champion… attractive: his cute hat, and warm smile, and beautiful chocolate hair and eyes made her heart do flips whenever she found herself thinking about them.

Okay, maybe she was head over heels for him, but she’d rather die than admit this last part out loud, and not just because of all the teasing from her brother and new friends Bede, Hop, and Gloria she would receive.

No, she didn’t want to reveal her feelings, simply because she was completely and utterly _terrified_.

Terrified of not being able to be together now because of their new responsibilities. Terrified of what other people would say about them being together, especially now that Victor was champion: while the general consensus about Spikemuth people had bettered, the uneducated and mean-spirited comments about her origins and past were never missing.

But most of all, she was terrified of losing him. She feared that Victor might reject her, and even if he did it with all the care in the world, she knows her heart would shatter almost instantly. Not only would she lose her first and only crush, but also the first real friend she had ever made. And one tiny, minuscule part of her brain was telling her that he’d never want to see her again: although she constantly reminded herself that Victor would never be that cruel, those doubts never really went away.

To make matters worse, she also thought that she wouldn’t stand a chance against her “competition”: Victor had many girls (and boys) chasing after him, and the fact that he had recently come out as bisexual certainly didn’t help, either. Compared to someone like Gloria or Hop, who were so close to the boy ever since they were children, Marnie thought she was nothing.

Thinking about all her anxiety regarding the champion only made her feel worse; ironic, considering she had taken a stroll in order to relax. Once she started, however, she couldn’t stop-

“COOOOR!”

Marnie unconsciously thanked Arceus for whatever noise that got her out of her nervous spiral, as she looked upwards to detect the source of the cry: as she presumed, it was a Corviknight, which was rapidly descending while carrying an… Inteleon and a Hatenna?

The three creatures landed right next to the girl, who was already about to take out her Morpeko in order to defend herself, when she realised exactly which pokémon were in front of her.

The Corviknight, although large in size and intimidating, had surprisingly kind eyes and an elegant port: it was Lancelot, Victor’s own Raven Pokémon. Meanwhile, the Inteleon was in its shiny form, and Marnie only remembered seeing one in her entire life: Sapphire, Victor’s female starter. The Hatenna, however, seemed to be a wild one, as the teenage girl never recalled Victor having one of those pokémon.

The three monsters seemed extremely distressed, and couldn’t keep making noises, as if they were crying, overwhelming the poor Marnie’s mind and personal space.

“Alrigh’, alrigh’, please calm down, one at a time!” The girl attempted to ease the pokémon’s nerves. “What’s the matter with you lot?”

Lancelot, tearfully, then proceeded to show her another passenger that seemed to be flying alongside Sapphire and the Hatenna. It was a person, and a very disheveled one at that, but were they asleep? Marnie couldn’t seem to recognize them at first.

But when she finally did, it felt like her heart, and the entire world, suddenly stopped.

It was Victor.

Only covered in wounds, and not moving.

* * *

Ever since he began his pokémon journey, Victor learned that the calmest place in Galar, besides his home in Postwick, was, ironically, the Wild Area.

Any time the lad felt overwhelmed by the gym challenge, or simply wanted some time for himself, he would make a Combee line straight into this zone of the region, where the vast amount of powerful pokémon and sheer size of it guaranteed that there wouldn’t be many people.

And today was no different.

Even if he was extremely glad to have become the champion and protector of his home, and always willing to lend a hand to anyone, his responsibilities did become too much sometimes; and so, not before mentioning it to the new Macro Cosmos chairperson Oleana, as Victor shuddered when remembering how she acted whenever he had a little escapade without her knowing, the young man decided to take a break in the Wild Area.

However, he didn’t just venture into this place just to take in the scenery and relax: Victor was always encouraging his team to train here whenever he took a break, as being champion meant they had to be at the top of their game 24/7. Furthermore, the Wild Area always had pokémon in need of assistance: fortunately, pokémon problems were usually less complicated to solve than human ones.

After battling a particularly strong Steelix- so tough, in fact, that it made almost his entire team faint, except for Sapphire and Lancelot, who decided to hang out outside their pokéballs for the remainder of the day- Victor was about to go back to Wyndon in order to heal his partners, when they heard a cry for help.

The yelp seemed to come from a nearby Hatenna, which seemed to be far away from her group, being harassed by an abnormally tough-looking Drapion, who had clear intentions of making the Calm Pokémon a quick snack, all the while toying with her with a sadistic smirk on its face.

Even with most of his team down, giving him a huge disadvantage, the heroic instinct inside Victor would have never let him live in peace if he didn’t do something to help: luckily, both of his pokémon also seemed eager to aid the Hatenna, which the teenager silently thanked with a nod. And so, the trio decided to jump into action, with Lancelot and Sapphire distracting the Drapion, while Victor got the Hatenna into a safe place.

“Hey there lassie, you alright?”, Victor asked the pokémon, in an attempt to calm her down.

The Hatenna, however, still seemed shocked to her core. “Hat! Hathathat!!”, she cried, obviously not expecting to be saved and thrown around like a poké doll.

“It’s ok, it’s ok, you’re safe now”, the teenager cooed, keeping a low and tranquil tone, as he knew Hatenna disliked strong emotions, “. That bully won’t hurt you anymore; my friends are distracting it, and they’re so strong they’ll probably beat it in no time”. The poor creature seemed to start calming down, which made Victor smile in relief.

In the meantime, Lancelot and Sapphire were slowly but surely wearing down the Drapion, while keeping away from its attacks. The Corviknight was making it flinch using Iron Head, and didn’t have to worry about the Ogre Scorpion hurting him due to his part-Steel typing; the Inteleon, on the other hand, was weakening it with her Snipe Shot from a safe distance.

Nonetheless, the Drapion was still putting up a fight, even if it couldn’t land a clear hit on either pokémon, which was making it even madder; but suddenly, a devilish idea crossed its mind, which made it grin disturbingly.

The Dark-Poison type began rushing at Victor’s pokémon, who were ready for impact: though, the clash never occurred, as the Drapion wasn’t aiming for its attackers, but rather Victor himself.

Before either Sapphire or Lancelot, who were absolutely horrified by the Drapion’s plan, could warn their trainer, the Ogre Scorpion landed a critical Poison Jab directly into Victor’s side, making him yell in pain, and further traumatizing the little Hatenna. What’s worse, the brute force of the impact launched the poor teenager into a rock wall, hurting him even more, and making him pass out.

Now content, and deciding to cut its losses, the Drapion was about to get away, before getting grabbed by the talons of the now furious Lancelot, who flew into the sky with incredible speed, and proceeded to drop the Dark-Poison type with even greater force, making a crater as they both crash landed.

After the dust settled, the Drapion was more than passed out, and probably wouldn’t get up for a couple of days: the Raven Pokémon, still consumed by rage, was about to finish the job, but got hit by a concentrated beam of water. It belonged to a dreadful-looking Sapphire, who was now cradling Hatenna like a baby, as a form of ordering him to snap out of it, and focus more on their probably dying trainer. Lancelot’s expression immediately changed into a fearful one, and quickly placed both pokémon, as well as Victor, on his back, before flying away to the nearest Pokémon Center, where they hopefully could help the teenager.

As they were travelling through the sky, the Inteleon seemed to recognize one of the people walking in the Wild Area as Marnie, the girl their trainer met during his gym challenge, and would never shut up about. Sapphire ordered Lancelot to land near her: the Flying-Steel type was confused at first, but after realising what she wanted, he obliged.

* * *

Marnie wanted to scream, but all that got out of her mouth were choked sobs: before she realised, tears started falling from her eyes profusely, blurring her vision. She wanted to wake up from this nightmare, but it only seemed painfully real.

“What the ‘ell happened to ‘im?! I-Is he dead?!” Marnie asked-yelled in tears, quickly realising what a stupid idea it was, as the pokémon couldn’t communicate with her, only being able to release hysterical and angst-ridden cries. That’s when a terrifying thought crossed her mind.

What if they had harmed Victor?

While extremely rare, cases of pokémon attacking their trainers did still happen, mostly when the trainer abused them. And even though she knew very well Victor would never do that, Marnie’s agitation clouded her judgement, and began punching Lancelot, who didn’t even flinch because of his armor.

“How could you do this?! HE LOVED YOU!”

The girl’s punches started weakening, due to all the grief overwhelming her, making her drop onto the grass, while sobbing uncontrollably. That’s when she felt a hand placed on her shoulder: it was Sapphire’s, who, even in tears, tried to comfort Marnie as best she could, chirping softly to calm her down.

The gym leader then realised how ridiculous she was being, and wiped off her tears with her sleeves. “I’m sorry”, she apologized between sniffles, “I know you’d never hurt Vic. I just… i-is he really…?”

The poor girl was about to explode into crying again, when the Secret Agent Pokémon carefully took her hand, and placed it on Victor’s chest, where she could feel his heart still beating, though extremely faintly.

Marnie’s heart started pumping at the speed of sound, as a glimmer of hope appeared in her mind, indicating that there still was time. She immediately mounted on Lancelot’s back, encouraging Sapphire to do the same, determined to save her crush.

“C’mon everyone, we can still help ‘im! Wyndon’s Pokémon Center isn’t too far from ‘ere; we can get there in time if Lancelot’s fast enough!” Marnie exclaimed. The three pokémon all started to regain confidence, inspired by the girl’s words: the Corviknight in particular, who was willing to fly at the speed of light if it meant saving his trainer.

* * *

The Dark-type gym leader felt like actual **hell** while waiting in the Pokémon Center lobby, as if every second that passed without knowing how Victor was, a bit of her soul slowly died off.

Their arrival at Wyndon wasn’t exactly _graceful_ , to begin with: due to their hurry, Lancelot decided to just plummet into the ground without thinking, hoping it would be faster. If Marnie wasn’t there to steer him so as to not crash land, Sapphire would have two almost dead bodies to deal with.

This of course gathered a large number of people, who were horrified at the sight, and bombarded the girl with questions, some even blaming her for the champion’s state. However, Marnie couldn’t care less about the crowd, instead just ordering them to move aside so they could get to the Pokémon Center: these buildings, besides being designed for healing pokémon, also had rooms for human healing in case of emergency.

The nurse, Arceus bless her heart, didn’t ask any unnecessary questions, nor wasted time with that strange speech she gave to everyone that arrived at the Center, regardless of if they already knew how the building worked: she just thanked them for getting Victor’s body to safety and asked them to stay in the waiting room while they treated him.

Marnie was going through what she thought to be one of the worst moments in her life, and the constant barrage of questions from bystanders only made her feel worse: feeling her distress, Lancelot screeched loudly, a successful technique for scaring all those annoying people away. The girl quietly thanked the Raven Pokémon, to which he answered with a nod.

Speaking of pokémon, the champion’s team wasn’t doing any better.

Now all healed, the creatures were filled in by Sapphire and Lancelot, in their own language, and all had various reaction:

Jet, Victor’s Dragapult, was just as furious as Lancelot, and tried several times to chase after the Drapion himself; because he could phase in and out of grasp, it was really hard to prevent him from escaping, only being able to be stopped by the champion’s Grimmsnarl, King.

King was surprisingly level-headed for a Dark type, worrying more about his trainer’s safety rather than settling a score with a wild pokémon, and constantly yanked Jet from the void back to the Pokémon Center: the Dragapult was so upset, however, that he traveled all the way to Wyndon’s entrance, before Marnie decided it was best for everyone for him to rest in his pokéball.

Meanwhile, Thor, the teenage boy’s own Boltund, was extremely upset, trotting from one corner of the Center to the other; fortunately, Marnie quickly realized that petting the Electric type was the best way of calming him down, even if the heart-wrenching expression on his face didn’t fade away.

“I know you’re worried, laddie” the girl consoled the Dog Pokémon “. ’m scared too. But we can’t do much more than waitin’ ‘ere”. The Boltund only quietly whimpered in response.

Finally, the calmest pokémon in his team, although not without an aura of worry, was Collie, the champion’s female Coalossal. The fiery giant was simply standing near Marnie, her eyes clearly looking around for Victor. The girl deduced that the only reason Collie wasn’t thrashing around was because of her size and speed preventing it, and chose to not startle her.

All the while, Sapphire was still cradling the little Hatenna like her baby, now alongside Lancelot, as his interest in the small Psychic type piqued.

And so, Spikemuth’s gym leader was stuck in the small waiting room of a Pokémon Center alongside a plethora of monsters with wildly different moods; nonetheless, the one thing they all had in common was their dreadful concern regarding Victor.

The fact that it was taking so long for Marnie to be called in filled her head with terrifying ‘what ifs’: what if the wound was too large, and Victor couldn’t be champion anymore? What if the poison from the attack hurts him slowly? What if he couldn’t walk anymore? What if-

Arceus, what if he’s dead?

That was the question that terrified Marnie the most: what if Victor, her first friend, crush, and basically the first person other than her brother that believed in her was gone? What if she could never tell him how she truly felt about him? How could she recover from that? Would she recover from that?

Suddenly, the idea of him rejecting her seemed like heaven in comparison to her awful situation.

Before the poor girl could spiral further into anxiety and terror, she heard the nurse’s voice calling her:

“Gym Leader Marnie, you may come inside now.”

Marnie snapped out of it, and slowly, so as to not startle the pokémon (and also because of fear), made her way to Victor’s room, not before thanking the nurse for all her help. Unfortunately, the nurse’s expression was hard for Marnie to read, so she wouldn’t know anything until she entered the place. The champion’s pokémon were all quietly following behind the girl, with the same amount of dread and anxiety she had.

Suddenly, the group halted in front of the room’s door. The teenage girl felt as if her heart would bust out of her chest from how fast it was beating. This was it: the only way she would know if her best friend and love of her life was still alive was if she went through the door.

Before she could turn the doorknob, however, Marnie’s fears and anxieties reappeared violently in her mind, exclaiming that she would suffer if she opened the door, and that she shouldn’t do it if she didn’t want to be emotionally devastated. The poor girl just froze there, with her hand on the door.

Sapphire, nonetheless, was out of patience, and opened the door herself, while Marnie’s head was running wild with angst-ridden thoughts. When all of a sudden:

“Marnie?”

* * *

The fears that plagued the Dark-type user’s mind vanished in an instant, as she immediately recognized that voice, even if it sounded quieter than usual.

In the middle of the white, sunlit room, on one of the Center’s comfy hospital beds, was lying Victor: he looked slightly paler than usual, with all sorts of medical equipment around him, as well as a bandage covering most of his torso.

Before Marnie could even move, the champion’s team all excitedly screamed and threw themselves onto the poor boy’s bed, obviously relieved at seeing their trainer safe and alive. Victor was a bit surprised at first, but instantly gave into the overload of affection from the pokémon, even in his weakened state, chuckling quietly and reassuring them that he was okay.

After the pokémon calmed down, all except the Corviknight and Inteleon, as well as the wild Hatenna, decided to return to their balls, leaving both teens alone, while Sapphire and Lancelot hanged out in a corner, so as to give them some privacy.

Marnie was simply left speechless by the Victor’s state: part of her wanted to simply break down in front of him and sob her heart out, confessing everything to the champion, but decided against it, realising that he already was going through a lot, and instead opting to sit next to him, trying to keep her signature neutral expression as best she could. “V-Victor, I’m so glad you’re okay…”

In any other situation, the champion would straight up run up to Marnie and lock her up in a hug, which just made the Dark type user’s heart do a flip and stop at the same time: although she prayed this gesture was a sign of something else, the fact that he did the same for all his friends didn’t give her much hope.

“It’s so good to see you too, Marn,” Victor managed to say, struggling a little because of his wound. Even now, Marnie’s expression softened a little when she heard him refer to her by her special nickname. “But what are you doing here? I expected my team to be here, but not you.”

Before the girl could explain, though, she got cut off by him. “N-not that I mind, of course! I-I mean, I’m surprised Gloria, Hop, and Bede aren’t here too, ‘s all…”, a light blush covering his whitened face.

“R-right…” Marnie uttered, slightly tinted pink as well, “Y-Y’ see, I was walkin’ through the Wild Area, when…”

After receiving an explanation from the gym leader, Victor emotionally looked at Sapphire and Lancelot, tears in his eyes, and clearly moved by his pokémon’s efforts to protect him.

“You guys really traveled all that distance just to get me to safety?” Victor sounded like he was about to cry. Both pokémon, who were also teary-eyed, simply nodded, and softly hugged their trainer. Marnie could hear how the champion started to gently weep, overwhelmed by his team’s support.

“...nk you” was all the gym leader could understand, as he was currently being squished by Lancelot’s large body, as well as Sapphire’s.

Marnie felt how her heart was rapidly melting, as well as her neutral facade. Victor had always been very loving towards his pokémon, and seeing them return the favor was a scene that could move even her brother’s heart. The girl wished to join in the hug too, but opted not to, as she didn’t want to ruin the moment.

“A-And thank you too, Marn” Victor praised her as well once his partners had stopped hugging him “. Without you, I’d also wouldn’t have gotten here in time. I-I’d probably be…”

Clearly, the idea of him dying was something neither of them wanted to talk about, so he quickly dismissed it. “Y-You get it. What I'm trying to say, Marn, is that you saved me. You’re my hero.”

Though Marnie seemed calm in the exterior, her mind was in absolute disarray: her desire to jump him and cry her heart out became stronger than ever. And yet, she tried her hardest to keep her collected veneer, not wanting to make Victor’s situation even more overwhelming.

“Y-You give me too much credit, Vic, Sapphire and Lancelot did most of the work.”, she humbled herself, looking at the pokémon, who were entertaining the little Hatenna, fortunately in a more relaxed state now. That’s when a question popped in her mind. “Say, where did the Hatenna come from? I don’t remember you having one of the lil’ things.”

“Ah, yeah, haha, ‘guess she tagged along with you guys?” Victor chuckled “The little lass was about to get eaten by a Drapion, so we stepped in to save her. Bloody bully hit me in the side with a Poison Jab when I was distracted, though, and that’s why I’m here.”

The champion showed her his bandages, and now that she was up close, Marnie could see the full damage of his wound: the gauss was tainted with a reddish violet hue, due to the poisonous attack. Meanwhile, his back was fairly blackened with bruises due to his crash against the wall. All she could do was wince at the damage done.

Getting the hint that she wasn’t comfortable, Victor covered up and continued: “I’m surprised she wanted to stick with you guys, though. I was expecting her to run away the second she was left alone.”

“Well, ‘course she would stay”, the gym leader reassured him, “. She still need to thank ‘er hero, after all.”

Just as Marnie said this, the Hatenna jumped out of the Inteleon’s arms, and quickly waddled into Victor’s. “Hat!” The pokémon exclaimed, clearly thankful for her saviour. This act of gratitude nearly made him cry again, but instead just grinned and wiped the tears that were forming in his eyes.

“I s’pose this one really loves me, aye?” He asked, while softly petting the Calm Pokémon.

Marnie only hummed in response, while wearing a smile on her face; truly, a rare sight to behold. The champion’s heart did a flip from how beautiful she looked when she was happy.

Neither teen talked for a while, instead choosing to bask in the warmth of their situation: after all the pain they both had gone through, they deserved a break. That was, until Marnie decided to break the silence with a question.

“Hey, Vic?”, she started, “Why did you decide to help this Hatenna? I mean, ’m pretty sure you knew how dangerous steppin’ in against a Drapion of all things would be.”

“O-oh, yeah, haha...”, the boy awkwardly chuckled, clearly a bit embarrassed, before continuing, “...Promise not to laugh?”

“Well… that depends…”, Marnie replied cheekily, while wearing a small smile.

“I beg your pardon?!”, Victor faked being offended with an exceedingly posh tone, which made the gym leader chuckle, “Well, now I shan’t tell you anything, young lady, good day!”

“Nooo, ‘m sorry!”Marnie whined dramatically in defeat, with a now larger grin on her face, “I promise I won’t laugh, I won’t!”

They both started cracking up at their ridiculousness, which made them feel more at ease, replacing the heavy, dreadful atmosphere from before with a lighter one, a welcomed change.

“Aight, aight, I’ll tell you…”, Victor said after calming down from his laughter, before taking a deep breath: “It’s hard to explain, but I have this little feeling whenever I see someone in problems, that I must help them, otherwise, I wouldn’t be much of the hero you all seem to think I am.”

He briefly glanced at Sapphire and Lancelot, who were in the corner, now keeping the little Hatenna entertained by cuddling it, “My champion’s instinct, I call it.”

“Vic, you don’t hafta put your life on the line every time someone’s in danger”, now in a more serious tone, Marnie’s characteristic monotone expression reappeared, although not without a hint of worry, “I know you think you gotta carry the whole region on your shoulders now that you’re champion, but you really don’t.”

Now feeling a bit bolder, the gym leader gently and slowly held Victor’s hand with her own, which made both teenagers blush and increased their heart rates.

“You’ve got Hop, and Bede, and Gloria, and… me”, Marnie continued, “. You best believe we’d do anything in our power to help, after everythin’ you’ve done for us”, before lowering her voice a little, “, after everythin’ you’ve done for me.”

Marnie felt like this was it, the perfect moment: she looked at Sapphire expectantly, in the hopes that she’d get the hint, which, luckily, the clever pokémon did, and signaled Lancelot to follow her outside the room alongside the Hatenna, who was now asleep, in order to give the teenagers some privacy.

* * *

As they were now completely alone, the girl had to take an extremely deep breath in order to calm down before taking a leap of faith, one of the largest in her life. After doing so, she finally began her confession:

“You’ve got no idea how important you are to me, Victor'', Marnie started, feeling her heart begin to pump even harder, her expression starting to falter again, “. I know ‘m not the best at expressin’ it, but you literally changed my life: you helped my hometown come back to life, you’ve given me so many great battles, and you’re a great rival; bloody hell, you were the first person besides Piers or Team Yell to want to be my friend! You actually believed in me!”

Victor’s heart monitor was about to explode from how fast it was going, “Bollocks, Marnie, I-”, the champion uttered, face fully red and clearly shocked by the gym leader’s words, “-I didn’t know you held me in such regard…”

“I do! I really, really do!”, the girl began to get more and more agitated, and although her volume didn’t rise, she was still just as blushed as the champion. “I-, I-”

Before she could finally confess, however, her anxieties reappeared once more, reminding her of the consequences of Victor rejecting her feelings; still, she had come this far, and she wouldn’t quit now, not when she was this close.

Therefore, she quickly decided to shove those fears aside for once, and finally whispered-yelled the phrase that had stuck in her mind for the longest time:

“I love you, Victor!”

The champion’s heart felt like it had stopped completely, even if the monitor indicated otherwise: after so many months of doubts, about whether telling Marnie his true feelings for her or not, about whether she even considered him or not, and about so many other things- all vanished with a simple phrase. Even still, though, he was left speechless for a few moments.

Marnie started panicking at Victor’s silence, confusing it for disgust, or even anger: “B-but I understand if you don’t see me that way! I mean, wh-why would you like some crybaby from Spikemuth of all places, right?”, she blurted out in an ironic laugh, forcing herself to smile as though she made a joke, when the truth was that she was dying inside faster by the second. The girl was about to completely break down, and decided her best option was to run away as far as possible before the watergates opened. “‘m sorry, I-I’ll just go..!”

Nonetheless, before she could make her escape and weep uncontrollably, she felt Victor's hand grab her sleeve…

And wordlessly pulled her into a warm hug.

The champion had to make a lot of effort in order to stifle the pain he felt by moving his wounded body so carelessly, but it didn’t matter to him. Not anymore.

“I love you too, Marnie.”

The Dark type user couldn’t handle it anymore and simply started bawling in the boy’s embrace, throwing away any semblance of stoicness out the window. The insane mixture of relief and tiredness she felt was unlike anything she had ever experienced before, and it overwhelmed her. Victor, though very surprised by her outburst, chose to let the girl release all the pent-up emotions she had.

After calming herself down (but still with tear-filled eyes and a runny nose), the poor girl still found herself doubting his crush’s words, her fears never leaving her. “A-as in friend love, o-or love love?”, she asked nervously.

The champion couldn’t help but find the lass’ nervousness endearing, and gave a warm chuckle: “Love love of course, silly”, Victor answered, “. I thought I was pretty obvious?”

“No, no, it ain’t that, it’s just...” Marnie released herself from the hug and explained, “I was just so scared that’d you reject me for the longest time… I didn't wanna lose you.” She felt very embarrassed by her fears, her face flushing a bright pink. “I was just bein’ stupid.”

“Marn, don’t say that! You’re not stupid for feeling things!”, Victor softly scolded her, “If anything, I felt the exact same way as you did. I didn’t want to pressure you into anything you didn’t want, and I was worried that if I confessed, you’d get scared, and I would just ruin things between us.”

He then proceeded to gently grab her hand with his own, as if to reassure her that he was still there, “I didn’t want to lose the best thing that has happened in my life.”, he added, more quietly.

The girl started tearing up again when she heard him say that, clearly overwhelmed by the amount of love she was receiving, though she did have a small smile on her face, “Guess that makes us both wussies, aye?”

Victor laughed heartily at her comment, though he did flinch a little because of the sudden move, “Yeah, wussies alright.”

Now that the previous tension of both teenagers for the reciprocation of their feelings had evaporated, instead replaced with a warm feeling in their chest, Marnie decided to act boldly, and started to slowly approach Victor, not before asking him to close his eyes.

The champion was a little confused, but did as told. He wondered what the girl was planning, until he felt a warm sensation on his left cheek. As he quickly realised, Marnie had kissed him; the peck was short and rushed, but still carried a lot of emotions to it- mainly just nervousness.

When he opened his eyes, Victor found the girl’s face turned away from him, slightly pink, although he could notice a slight hint of an embarrassed smile. “That was a lil’... sneak peek of what you’re gettin’ after your treatment…”

The boy couldn’t stop beaming, with an ear-to-ear smile that hurted slightly, though he cared very little: the Marnie that just kissed him was a far cry from the shy, quiet girl he had met all that time ago at the Budew Drop Inn, and he was extremely proud of how far she had come.

Still though, he felt that her playfulness was rubbing off on him. “Oh, I’m sorry, but my terrible wound has numbed my senses.”, Victor declared with a sly grin, “Would you care to do that again? That way I’ll really feel it.”

Marnie couldn’t help but laugh at the young man’s cheesy request, but was happy to oblige nonetheless; however, just as she was about to kiss Victor’s cheek again, lips puckered up, the champion did a sudden flick of his head…

And made the girl kiss his lips.

Time seemed to have frozen in place, and to say that the gym leader was taken aback by the romantic gesture would be an understatement: she wasn’t expecting to receive her first real kiss this soon, let alone the very same day she confessed! Nevertheless, little by little, she began melting into Victor’s embrace and the kiss, experiencing both complete calmness and sheer glee at the same time.

Victor, on the other hand, was relieved that his bolder move was met with his crush’s approval; while he was by no means shy when it came to physical contact, he often felt intimidated by the prospect of lip kissing, as that was a lot more intimate than what he was used to doing. Still, though, he was willing to overcome his anxiety if Marnie enjoyed it.

After both teens separated, gasping for air as they weren’t experienced in this endeavor, Marnie was unable to drop her smile, though she was having a hard time keeping eye contact with Victor. “... I’ll get you for that next time...”, she quietly giggled, a pink blush adorning her face.

“Hey, you’re the one who said being my rival meant you had to stay in your toes.”, Victor remarked in a sassy tone and a wide grin, “Not my fault you didn’t see it coming.”

“Wow, someone’s gettin’ cocky.”, the Dark type user was almost amazed at the champion’s confidence, as he was not one for boasting, “Let me remind you that just ‘cause we’re an item now doesn’t mean ‘m not heading for your crown anymore. You better be ready for when I beat you hollow in front of the entire region.”

The boy started cackling a bit louder now, though he had to calm down a bit due to his injuries, “If anyone’s dethroning me, love, it _better_ be you. But I won’t make it easy- I’m the champion for a reason, y’know!”

While Marnie laughed alongside him, she couldn’t help but notice how Victor called her “love”; it was such a small gesture, but it made her heart melt, and now that they were together, she suspected she was going to hear it more often, doubting she’d ever get used to it- still, she didn’t care. They were both happy, and that’s all that mattered to her.

“...Hey, Vic?”

“Hm?”

“Could… could we kiss again..?”

And so, with a joyful grin and not a second thought, the boy gently pulled his girl into a soft embrace and placed his lips on her, locking them in a kiss. They both felt on cloud nine, and though they didn’t know exactly how to properly do it, it was not important to them. They had time to learn, and nothing was going to interrupt-

“VICTOR, WHAT THE _**FUCK**_ ”

With all the grace of a raging Tyranitar, the door was suddenly slammed open, revealing that Gloria had kicked it- probably breaking it in the process. Hop and Bede were following behind her, and all were sharing deeply concerned looks. Finally, at the back, Lancelot and Sapphire were looking apologetically at their trainer, as they seemed to have tried to prevent the trio from barging in, unsuccessfully.

“We came as fast as possible, mate!”, the professor assistant began anxiously, looking a bit disheveled from running so much.

“Ah swear, when I find the bloody Drapion that did this, Imma have Cinderace burn it to a fuckin’ crisp!”, Gloria followed furiously with her unmistakably northern Galarian accent, clearly the most upset of the trio.

“How… can you dolts… run so much?!”, huffing and puffing, Bede came last, almost dying, feeling like he crossed one side of the region to the other on foot.

All the ruckus they were causing came to a screeching halt when they realized the scene they had broken into: Victor and Marnie were still in the middle of their kiss, and though they were looking at the trio horrified, their lips didn’t want to break free.

Everyone was just staring at the two lovebirds with poker faces, unable to speak up; taking advantage of the situation, Sapphire slowly and wordlessly closed the door- to the best of her ability, at least, since Gloria’s attack had broken the lock.

Once the young lovers were alone again, they finally parted lips, and looked away from each other for a few seconds, their faces redder than a Tamato berry, very clearly embarrassed by the whole situation.

That was until Marnie started having a giggle fit, finding the whole scene ridiculous and yet hilarious. The girl’s laughs quickly spread to Victor, who shared her same view.

They both knew that, as long as they had each other, it didn’t matter what happened. It was okay.

They were going to be okay.

**Author's Note:**

> This was my first fic, so I hoped you enjoyed it! Please excuse me if the writing isn't great.  
> But at least there are no gramatical errors, so there's that!


End file.
